In a recent post, here, I argued that the time has come to move on from the gumshoe clue-hunting approach currently employed to select international arbitrators. Existing practices are severely outdated and unduly expensive in an era of information and technological efficiency. The process for selecting arbitrators, I argued, should be more transparent and key information about arbitrators should be more equally accessible. The solution I proposed is what I have termed the “International Arbitrator Information Project,” a project that would aim to provide reliable, online one-stop-shopping for information about arbitrators. This post sketches some of the features and challenges that [...]

In June 2010 the Court of Appeal’s decision in Jivraj v Hashwani caused dismay in the arbitration community. Does an arbitration agreement which provides criteria for the appointment of arbitrators risk falling foul of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (the “Regulations”) or other UK anti-discrimination law? The Supreme Court judgment of 27 July 2011 restored certainty, confirming that arbitrators are not “employees” under the Regulations and that the inclusion of certain “discriminatory” criteria for appointment does not breach the Regulations (see here for an earlier blog post on this decision).

That was expected to be the final word on the matter. The Supreme C [...]

As Rusty Park remarked, “[I]n real estate the three key elements are ‘location, location, location,’ … in arbitration the applicable trinity is ‘arbitrator, arbitrator, arbitrator.”’ Empirical studies consistently verify that parties’ ability to select arbitrators is one of the primary reasons they select arbitration as a means of dispute resolution. Parties also consistently vote with their feet by rejecting available options to have arbitral institutions or appointing authorities select arbitrators on their behalf.

Parties seek to actively participate in the arbitrator selection process—the ultimate form of forum shopping. The arbitral tribunal can, in the absence [...]